A year after the disastrous Capulet Fest, organizers are being held accountable — and ticketholders will finally receive refunds.
Last year’s Capulet Fest — set to take place from Friday, June 28 to Sunday, June 30 — promised a weekend full of performances from top rock acts, alongside vendors, food trucks, and camping options at Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. However, chaos quickly ensued, and last-minute, the fest was moved to a significantly smaller venue, The Webster in Hartford.
Almost all the bands fell off the lineup, and hundreds of fans made the decision not to attend the festival as questions remained unanswered regarding camping capabilities, VIP parking passes, and artist meet and greets. Then, Sunday’s edition was entirely called-off as Capulet Entertainment failed to pay The Webster.
| READ: Capulet Fest: Behind the Scenes of the Connecticut Rock Fest Gone Wrong |
The festival was subsequently the subject of an investigation by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who received around 60 complaints from concertgoers. This past week, a settlement was reached, and Tong said Capulet Entertainment and its owner Estevan Vega will pay ticketholders up to $50,000 for “unused admission tickets and associated fees, unused parking passes and fees, and camping passes and fees.”
The settlement notes that Vega and Capulet Entertainment are restricted from hosting any music festivals for the next five years unless they secure a performance bond to cover potential ticket refunds. Additionally, they are barred from hosting future events unless they can ensure that all performers will take the stage.
“Going forward, Vega and Capulet are going to be under strict orders to secure performance bonds and tight commitments from contractors before promoting anything,” Tong said in a statement. “And if they screw up again, you better believe we’ll come down on them like a ton of bricks.”
Tong added that “our investigation has always been about two things — making sure this never happens again and getting refunds to fans.”
“The state is taking nothing from this settlement,” Tong said. “Every dollar we could squeeze out of Vega and Capulet is going to fan refunds and restitution.”
Those seeking a refund are urged to write a request to Vega’s attorney: Mark A. Balaban, Esq., c/o The Balaban & Raczka Law Firm, 425 Main Street, 4th Floor, Middletown, CT 06457.
Capulet Fest was also slammed with a class action lawsuit last year, which alleges that the organizer of Capulet Fest, defendants Capulet Entertainment, LLC and Vega, are responsible for refunding thousands of ticketholders who paid for a three-day outdoor music festival.
The class action alleges that the defendant had no intention to issue refunds for ticketholders, despite the fact that the organizer “failed to deliver on their contractual obligations, thereby breaching their contract and deceiving thousands of consumers in New England.”
The lawsuit, which seeks to cover all individuals who purchased tickets to Capulet Fest, is still pending.
TicketNews was on-scene during Capulet Fest 2024. Read our review here.
